Grand Slam treble for Gerwyn Price

The world champion, world number one and number one seed was in imperious form at Aldersley Leisure Village in a clinical final performance against ‘Snakebite’ Peter Wright.

The 16-8 win by Price marked the third time the Welshman had won the tournament and meant he is still the only player to lift the Eric Bristow trophy at Aldersley since the tournament moved there in 2018.

He maintained a three-dart average of 103.90, hit 47 per cent of doubles and won six legs against the throw to take home the trophy and winnings of £125,000.

The final was a clash of styles, pitching the intense Price against the colourful Wright in front of a capacity crowd who were full of voice all evening.

They were quick to cheer Wright, a crowd favourite with his multi-coloured trousers and grey-dyed mohawk haircut, and sang all night, wearing a range of colourful costumes.

Both players had scored highly during the week, hitting 73 180s between them and maintaining high averages of 97.93 for Price and 96.55 for Wright.

There was also history as Price had beaten Wright 16-6 in the 2019 final and Wright was looking for revenge and his first win in the Grand Slam, one of the few top tournaments he had yet to win.

Price started fast, hitting a 140 checkout in the first leg and he kept building the gap, leading 4-1, 7-3, 11-4 and 14-6 at the session breaks.

Wright, who had ended the dream of Fallon Sherrock in the quarter-finals and come back to beat Michael Smith earlier in the day in the semi-finals, snatched the odd leg, but wasn’t scoring high enough to threaten a comeback.

He rallied slightly at the end, hitting a 155 checkout and winning three legs as Price missed four match darts, but it was too little, too late as a 29 checkout clinched the match for Price.

Afterwards, the three-time winner said he loved the venue and if the tournament went back to the Civic, he’d look to dominate there as well and said it was great to have his family there.

He said: “I thought I played really well tonight and flew out the blocks and although Peter tried to come back, he missed a dart at a double and I pushed on.

“Peter wasn’t really at the races today, but I put him under a lot of pressure and even with the missed darts at the end, I felt I was going to win.

“I’m not sure what it is about this tournament, but every time I’m here, the family comes up when I get to the latter stages, so they spur me on and give me the confidence to go on.”